It is a way for us to somehow add to beautiful actions, to praise them with a sincere heart.
C'est en quelque sorte se donner part aux belles actions, que de les louer de bon coeur.
- La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, aphorism 432
Madame de Sévigné, the famous letter writer. She was with La Rochefoucauld near his death, when he was 67 years old; she says: "... his disposition and resignation are worthy of admiration... he talks of his illness and death as if it were that of a neighbor, and sees the near approach of the end of his life with perfect calmness..."